Christine Kandic Torres

The Girls in Queens by Christine Kandic Torres is a 2022 HarperVia publication.

This book has been on my TBR list for a little over a year. I waffled back and forth before deciding to give it a try, mainly due to the YA label attached to it.

Ultimately, though, it wasn’t the category that caused problems for me, but the pacing of the book. There was potential and I think the author was not only trying to examine dangerous attitudes and the examples set for young girls by those who should be teaching them better but was also trying to establish a bit of nostalgia and capture the special friendship bonds forged in our pre-teen years.

Unfortunately, the whole thing fell flat. Nothing very exciting takes place during the first half of the book, but it does start to gel in the second half and the last quarter of the book almost made it worth one’s patience. But honestly, it didn’t make a big enough impact for me to say I’m glad I stuck with it to the end. It was one of those ‘too little, too late’ situations, I’m sorry to say.

Overall, I appreciate what the author was trying to accomplish, but sadly it fell short of the mark.

2 stars… (meer)

I was sent a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review. Excellent, excellent book! While heartbreaking and often very sad, this book is a beautiful tale of growing up, and of what it means to be women = particularly Latinx women. The writing is beautiful, and I often found myself caught by the author's turn of phrase that completely captured the scene and the moment. It's emotional, and because of that it took me a little longer to read than some books do, but I absolutely loved this book and am looking forward to reading more by this author!… (meer)